Puzzles
by GreenBinderGirl
Summary: There are a lot of things you don't know about puzzles, Matt. Wammy's House Era, set one year after Mello leaves.


**Quick Author's Notes:** This takes place the year after Mello left Wammy's, making Matt fourteen and Near thirteen. I'm not entirely sure what happened to them after Mello left, but I'm assuming that Near was immediately swept up in his duties as L's successor and Matt just continued doing the same-old same-old. So, I guess this just me trying to fill in some holes...Matt/Near style.

DANG, this is the longest thing I've written in a while. It's such a waste.

**Puzzles**

Near liked being alone.

That was one thing, Matt thought, that he and Near had in common. Whereas he didn't completely shun human interaction like Near did, Matt did enjoy his privacy. He got annoyed when Mello would barge into his room without even knocking first, and kick the first thing his foot came in contact with (a Game Boy Advance, the bedside table, Matt's leg, et cetera). Near's bedroom door was always locked and closed - Matt often heard Mello complaining about it. He wondered what kind of room Near's was.

_It's probably full of Lego castles or something. Maybe he even framed all those puzzles and hung them on the wall._

Matt giggled at that thought. It seemed an entirely un-Nearish thing to do, hanging something that he completed on the wall. Near was quiet and modest like that.

That got Matt thinking. What _does_ he do with those puzzles? Just leave them lying around? Does he put them back in the box? Or just take them apart and piece them back together again?

One day, it was raining. The sky was dark and rain had been endlessly pouring down for hours. Roger had allowed a few kids to gather their water gear and play around outside. A boy whom Matt was friendly with had asked him if he wanted to come outside with them, but Matt refused. He didn't like getting wet.

The halls of Wammy's were quiet, for once. Most of the teachers were outside supervising the kids and making sure they didn't somehow get hurt, leaving Matt to happily light up outside of his room and wander around. He shouldn't let this precious moment go to waste by sitting in his room and playing a video game that he's played (and beaten) numerous times before.

As he walked, Matt took a drag from his cigarette and wished that Mello was here. Things were different at Wammy's since L died and Mello left. He barely saw Near anymore - no idea what happened to him. _He's probably working on L's old cases or something, to try and learn more about his tactics._

He felt a prickle on his neck, the feeling of being watched. It ripped him away from his daydream-like thoughts and caused him to turn around, hoping to high heaven it wasn't a supervisor.

"Matt." It was Near. He sounded vaguely surprised.

_Well, speak of the devil,_ Matt thought with relief. Awkwardly he took the cigarette from his lips and gave a little grin.

"Uh...Hey, Near. Haven't seen you around lately."

"Yes. I've been very busy," Near replied. He twirled a piece of hair around his finger, and his eyes looked almost wistful.

"Yeah," Matt said, "I figured you were..."

Near, apparently, didn't have anything to say to that. He gave a sort of half-nod and continued to twirl his hair in an absent-minded manner.

Matt was starting to get uncomfortable. Near was as anti-social as ever and not versed in the way of conversational cues - Matt wasn't sure if it was okay for him to walk away, or if Near was going to say something else. His face and actions gave nothing away. Matt blinked.

"Near," he said, "what do you do with all those puzzles of yours?"

"I take them apart again."

"Over and over?"

"Yes."

"Wouldn't that get boring?"

"I use a different tactic each time."

"Oh," Matt said, actually genuinely interested. "I...I didn't know that there were actually tactics for putting together a puzzle."

Near withdrew something that looked like a little finger puppet from his pocket and rubbed it. He was looking down, his eyes showing that his mind was somewhere far away.

"There are...a lot of things about puzzles you don't know, Matt," he muttered. With that, Near promptly turned around and started walking away.

Three months later, just after his fifteenth birthday, Matt left Wammy's House. He hadn't talked to Near once during those months. It was one hour before midnight, Matt's favourite time of night, when he adjusted the backpack on his shoulder and swung open Wammy's rusty gates. Just as he was about to walk out onto the pavement of the outside world, something grabbed at his sleeve.

"Ah! What the fuck--What? Near?"

Near stood there, his emotionless eyes looking almost defiant. A package was clutched in his hands. He had run out behind Matt without putting shoes or socks on; the bottoms of his pajamas were muddy.

"Before you leave, please take this," Near explained, pushing the package into Matt's hands. He hadn't let go of his sleeve yet. Matt could feel Near's icy cold hands sinking into his own skin - he suppressed a shiver.

"Uh--W-What--?" Matt stammered.

"Please, take it," Near repeated. "I want you to have it."

"Oh...Okay," Matt replied slowly. Near had let go of him. Matt's skin tingled.

Near gave an intake of breath. "Good-bye, Matt. I hope you find Mello." With that, he was gone.

Matt was torn between a number of actions - call after Near, run after him, demand what he meant...

For the next few minutes, he just stood there. When it become quite obvious that Near was long gone, Matt started walking to the bus station on the corner, the one that he knew would take him where he wanted to go.

_The good thing about busses in this city,_ Matt thought, trying to ignore Near's actions, _is that they're always running._

Matt chose a seat at the far end of the bus, away from everyone else. He looked down at the package in his hand. It had been clumsily wrapped, and was square-shaped. On a whim, he tore it open.

It was a Rubik's cube, but that wasn't all. There was a tiny note taped to the bottom of it.

_There are a lot of things you don't know about puzzles. Learn them, and you'd be able to complete your goal of helping Mello._

_-N_

Matt smirked.

"Heh heh. Thanks Near."

**Author's Notes:**

I dunno. I just felt like writing something Matt/Near-ish. This wasn't slash, it wasn't even friendship. But I liked writing it.

This is going nowhere. This one-shot is completely and utterly pointless. Badly written, and just all-around really terrible. I hope y'all can forgive me? I can't write Near. Or Matt, for that matter. Hell, I can't write _any_ character correctly. So I apologize for any out of character-ness.

Even _I_ don't know what Near means. See how incompetent I am?

P.S: I'm requesting a beta.


End file.
